A downtown office building that houses city of Phoenix human resources staff is costing Phoenix hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance that may not be necessary, according to a study conducted by the city manager’s office.
The study, which was discussed at Wednesday’s City Council Finance, Efficiency, Economy and Sustainability Subcommittee meeting, found that selling the office building on the southeast corner of Monroe Street and Second Avenue and moving the approximately 100 human resources staff members to another city-owned property could save the city $400,000 per year, plus a one-time savings of about $220,000.
Recent streamlining of city programs and services has resulted in 3,000 fewer city positions in the last five years, according to the study. As a result, the city is trying to find better ways to consolidate staff and services.
Employees from the human resources building could be relocated to available space in the Calvin C. Goode building on Washington Street and Third Avenue, the study found. The $400,000 per year saved would come from ongoing utilities, maintenance and landscaping costs that would no longer be necessary.
The remaining debt on the building is $2.2 million, according to the report. The cost of the move is estimated at $1.2 million, which would supposedly be paid for by proceeds from the building’s sale.
The problem is what to do with the property itself.
“It’s a building that doesn’t really fit the market well today,” said Christine Mackay, community and economic development director for the city of Phoenix.
Parking is the building’s biggest issue, Mackay said. There are no parking spaces belonging to the building itself. This is a problem for potential buyers in need of parking space for their own staff. There is a parking structure underneath the building, but the owner of an adjacent property owns the space.
Human resources staff currently park in a city parking structure, and they would continue to occupy those spaces even after a move, Mackay said.
Vice Mayor Daniel Valenzuela, District 5, said he thought the property merited a broader discussion about City Council’s vision for downtown Phoenix.
“We don’t want to regret just giving up this piece of property,” Valenzuela said. He proposed discussing the issue further in a subcommittee for downtown redevelopment.
District 7 Councilman Michael Nowakowski raised the possibility of demolishing the building and replacing it with a public parking garage surrounded by apartments. Meanwhile, District 2 Councilman Jim Waring said the city should thoroughly research whether it was unnecessarily leasing out spaces for additional workers who could be moved to city-owned spaces.
According to the report, the city manager’s office is also researching a leased space where the city may be unnecessarily paying approximately $300,000 a year to house the Police Professional Standards Bureau. The bureau could potentially be moved to vacant office space in Historic City Hall that wouldn’t cost them a dime.
“I’m not sure how the $300,000 would be sliding under the radar if we’ve got open space in City Hall, much less our other buildings,” Waring said.
Committee members moved to continue the discussion next month. It has not yet been decided whether the property housing human resources staff will be sold or those staff members will be moved to a new location.
Contact the reporter at Faith.Anne.Miller@asu.edu.
